NOTICE - Fawcett Comics changes due to copyright status

[Yoc]

Hello gang,
DCM has been informed by Warner Brothers (current owners of Fawcett copyrights) legal representation that several Fawcett books on DCM are in fact not in the public domain and must come down.  We have reached out and confirmed the email as authentic and they have been civil in their dealings with DCM and CB+.  WB is within their rights to ask us to remove these books.

The books they have asked us to remove are:
    Captain Marvel Adventures nos. 3-6, 46-129, 131-141 and 143-150;
    Captain Marvel Jr. nos. 29-34, 36-106, 108-117 and 119;
    Captain Marvel Story Book nos. 1-2;
    Fawcett's Funny Animals nos. 31-79;
    Hoppy the Marvel Bunny nos. 1-15;
    The Marvel Family nos. 1-3, 5-80, 82-89;
    Mary Marvel Comics nos. 1-28;
    Master Comics nos. 61-126, 128-132;
    Whiz Comics nos. 3-6, 64-98, 105-118, 130-153 and 155;
    Wow Comics nos. 36-69.
 
And any foreign editions containing reprints of copyrighted material from the listed issues.
We have removed the books as requested as well as any compilations with them in it.  If you notice any we have missed (particularly foreign editions) please call our attention to them as quickly as possible so we can correct the situation.

We will add bold notes in their sections about their changes in status and stress which cannot be uploaded again by anyone trying to be helpful and filling missing holes in the collection.

-Staff DCM

[Captain DJ]

We have decided to keep this thread open so people can post their opinion and views but please be civil. We will moderate any inappropriate comments or worse case, lock the thread.

[Roygbiv666]

I'd be curious to see what documentation they provided, was it copies of registration/numbers?

[jabarryto]

Hoppy the Marvel Bunny? seriously? ..... Looks like they want to cash in on the popularity of the Shazam film....

[OtherEric]

I'd be curious to see what documentation they provided, was it copies of registration/numbers?

We are not going to publicly share the correspondence we've had with WB at this time, sorry.

[Captain DJ]

I'd be curious to see what documentation they provided, was it copies of registration/numbers?

We saw enough evidence for us to believe their request was correct and so we have removed the comics. We feel it prudent to not share the contents of the emails.

[mindseye]

I'd be curious to see what documentation they provided, was it copies of registration/numbers?

We saw enough evidence for us to believe their request was correct and so we have removed the comics. We feel it prudent to not share the contents of the emails.

The contents of the emails should stay private, but the trademark and copyright documents should be public domain, as well as any court cases, unless those records are sealed, correct?  Otherwise how would anyone be able to check whether their work violates someone's copyright?  If there are any records that can be accessed through public means, could you point to them? 

[Ger Apeldoorn]

It seems silly and oldfashioned of them to react in this way (civil as it is), in a times when even the big copyright holders like Disney, Marvel, Start Trek and Star Wars are starting to realize that keeping a portion of the property in view (especially if it is the portion that never could be used to make money) actually helps the IP in other venues. I applaud them for at least considering that a Marvel Bunny could be turned proviable (especially after the Marvel Mutiversu succes), but someone should tell them that the free availabillity of the comic book version can only help to achieve that goals. Surely copyright laws aren't so simplistic that allowing digital versions of the comic book to exist would obliterate character rights for new projects?

[Snard]

The books they have asked us to remove are:
    Captain Marvel Adventures nos. 3-6, 46-129, 131-141 and 143-150;
    Captain Marvel Jr. nos. 29-34, 36-106, 108-117 and 119;
    Captain Marvel Story Book nos. 1-2;
    Fawcett's Funny Animals nos. 31-79;
    Hoppy the Marvel Bunny nos. 1-15;
    The Marvel Family nos. 1-3, 5-80, 82-89;
    Mary Marvel Comics nos. 1-28;
    Master Comics nos. 61-126, 128-132;
    Whiz Comics nos. 3-6, 64-98, 105-118, 130-153 and 155;
    Wow Comics nos. 36-69.

These issues have also been removed from the Wanted List.

[seary]

Hi gang:

I thought it was probably due to the Shazam movie.
I just saw the movie. It was okay, but I would have much preferred
to have the downloads available from DCM instead.

As some commenters mentioned, it would create far more interest
in Shazam and any future films to have these great comics still around.

And good will, too.

[TWT227ROD]

Well, damn!  The Fawcett comics are my most visited section of DCM. 

Excuse me, Warner, but I take this personally.  Captain Marvel was one of my father’s favorite characters.  I discovered DCM just a few weeks before he died last year, so I never got to show him any of these comics.  Every Fawcett comic I’ve downloaded has made me feel closer to him and helped me grieve.

 

[Crimson-Blue-Green]

I've only downloaded maybe a dozen or so of the now deleted titles, but I'm grateful to have what I do.  I doubt that Warner Bros. will be releasing any more Archive Editions of Fawcett material, which is disappointing. 

[Defiant1]

I don't see a problem with taking them down. There's enough material on the site to provide plenty of reading material. The funny thing is, a copyright lawsuit has to show damages. Since the site is not charging for the content nor profiting from it, the only damages would be lost sales on their end. Since they aren't publishing the material currently the settlement value would be close to $0. I'm very careful with my cover galleries to never make an attempt to profit off of my site. I listened to a really cool interview with Charles Schultz. He said that the way the copyright laws are written, the copyright holder has to be proactive in shutting down unauthorized use of the material. All they are really doing is showing due diligence whether they care on a personal level or not.

[larrytalbot]

I thought that copyrights apply only to financial or business use of copyrighted material and that they are freely available for non-profit hobby or educational use.  Also, how does Warners view buying and selling of old Fawcett comics? Are they now going to demand a share of a seller's profit from a comic book?

[ALV910]

I'm assuming that the books still allowed up on the site are the ones they didn't have a problem with?  Does that mean they all but confirmed Whiz Comics #2 and others really are PD?  This raises even more questions.